A Visit With Jan Brett

Emmy and I had the pleasure of meeting Jan Brett in Portsmouth, New Hampshire during her eighteen day cross country book tour. Jan was promoting her new book The Turnip, but to Emmy and me, she was promoting the love of books and art.  Watching the tour bus pull into the parking lot was so much fun.  We imagined traveling on this large bus with the gorgeous illustrations painted on the exterior and wondered what people's reactions were when they saw it on the road.

When Jan Brett stepped up onto the stage, the excitement in the crowd was electric.  Seeing not only the children's faces light up, but also the adult's faces is a true testament to this woman's work as an artist.  Jan's depictions of animals and human cultures are full of colorful detail.  Through her extensive travels (from Scandinavia to Africa), Jan is able to vividly create artwork that makes the reader of her books feel as if they could walk right into the book page.  As a matter of fact, Jan herself has said in several interviews that she keeps on painting until she can hear the sounds, smell the smells, and feel how soft the fur of the animal is.  She has said that it takes her an hour to draw an inch!

Emmy and I were so grateful to Jan Brett for taking the time to connect with the audience through her quiet storytelling and drawing demonstration.  Watching the Badger Girl come to life right before our eyes was absolutely amazing.

  

It was through Jan's travels in Russia, as well as a simple carved wooden toy of three people and a bear pulling up a turnip given to her by a friend, that the retelling of the story The Turnip was realized.  For a more detailed review of this beautifully illustrated book, check out our previous post HERE.

Luckily for us, Jan brought back a pair of birch bark shoes from Russia and has been sharing them on her tour. These shoes served as a model for the shoes worn by the badger characters in the story. She also had a surprise for us...her beloved Dutch Bantams also came along on the tour ~ Rueben her rooster and Rilke her hen!   Here is something new that we learned about Jan Brett ~ she raises chickens for show!  She has been reading tons of books about poultry genetics to try to better understand the color patterns found on chickens.

There are so many wonderful retellings of this classic folk tale, some better than others.  Emmy and I enjoyed Jan's take on this story especially with the addition of the bear family under the ground.  We hope you will pick up a copy of The Turnip to see what you think of Jan's version.

Thank you, Jan Brett, for sharing your passion with us!  

Emmy will never forget your kind words to keep her creative spirit always.  

Jan Brett's Book Tour

 Jan Brett is on tour and bringing her book bus to nearby Portsmouth, NH!  Emmy and I are beyond excited to see one of our all time favorite authors and illustrators.  We have quite a collection of Jan Brett books and Emmy often chooses these for her daily homework reading.

Jan will be visiting 23 cities and towns to celebrate her new book, The Turnip.  She will be giving a book talk and an illustration demonstration at each signing.  When I told Emmy that we would be going to see Jan Brett, she immediately asked if Hedgie would be there! Yes, Hedgie will be there. I am so grateful that Emmy gets this excited about an author/illustrator and that we can share this experience together. Click HERE if you would like to see if Jan is coming to a town near you!

With the upcoming release of her book The Turnip, Jan Brett brings another original twist to a favorite folk tale.  Jan, with her husband Joe, travels all over the world to get inspiration for her books.  When they were in Russia,  Jan was reminded of a simple carved wooden toy given to her by a friend.  The toy showed three people and a bear struggling to pull up a large turnip.  This was all it took for Jan to start imagining a story about a giant turnip.

Jan wondered if readers would believe a turnip could be as big as she wanted to make it.  She remembered someone who grew pumpkins to be over nine hundred pounds and decided that it could definitely happen.  Once again we see animal characters in beautiful clothes that show the culture of where this story takes place ~ Russia.  And, of course, the borders on the pages are full of beautiful illustrations offering the reader a further peek into the story.  

I haven't told Emmy the twist in this story yet, but I know it will give her lots of laughs!  I'm not going to spoil it for you either.  Look for the book The Turnip to hit book shelves on November 3, 2015.  

Celebrating Poetry and the Outdoors

   

Being outdoors has always been Emmy's favorite thing to do.  From a very young age, her curiosity led her to explore nature in wide open spaces and in little nooks and crannies. Today Emmy still enjoys being outside, but I am starting to see a difference in how she relates to nature.  The magic of fairies and gnomes hidden amongst the flowers and leaves is disappearing and in its place is more of a scientific approach to life around her.  I hear things like, "Did you know that sand is made up of millions of tiny rocks?  Did you know that the anther is the part of the flower that produces pollen?  Did you know that there are more than 1,500 active volcanoes on Earth?"  I know that these facts are important and am grateful that she is interested in learning these things, but I am a believer that life is magical and will continue to encourage her to look at things in a variety of different ways (not black or white).  For example, we know that an orb web is made of spirals and is used to catch prey, but seeing an orb web in the early morning mist is magical as the first rays of the morning sun hit its spirals and creates shimmers of gold.

Emmy has attended a Montessori school for the past six years (pre-school through second grade). Going out and exploring nature has always been a part of her school day.  It is understood that fresh air along with children's natural desire to explore their surroundings is beneficial to their growth and learning. Montessori believes that to delight in the wonder of the natural world at a tender and impressionable age is to become a steward to the earth in the years to come. I will be forever grateful to all of her Montessori teachers for gifting Emmy with the awareness that nature doesn't belong to us, but rather that we are responsible for its care.  

This past school year, Emmy spent a lot of time immersed in poetry.  It wasn't just a unit to teach, a box to be checked off, but rather a time to delve into the beauty of words - sweet, juicy, interesting words.  Through read alouds, the poems came to life begging Emmy to dive in.  Through writing, poetry became a way for Emmy to express herself.  By using mentor texts, Emmy began to understand the different ways that poets put words together. Through reciting poems, Emmy realized that the rhythm and rhyme of poetry was a fun way to play with words.  Through drama, Emmy took her love of poetry to a dramatic level by creating little skits to go along with the poems.  In the spring, the children helped to organize a Poetry Tea as a celebration of all that they had learned.  From the invitations to the set up of the classroom, the children were involved in the process.  It may have been lacking a smoky atmosphere and the adornment of berets, but it felt very "beatnik" anyway.  The children each took a turn reading from their hand sewn poetry books where they had written five types of poems such as a couplet and a diamante.  The look of pride on their faces as they stood before a large group of adults and read their poems was a joy to witness.  Also part of the Poetry Tea was food and drinks.  When we arrived, Emmy greeted us and showed us to our table.  She then went and got the snacks and served us hot tea with honey, lemon and/or sugar.  It was such a sweet celebration.  Emmy continues to find poetry wherever we go from noticing words that rhyme to making very poetic remarks such as, "Doesn't the color of the sun have a shade as deep red as a beautiful Poppy in spring."  When she carries what she has learned in school into her day to day life, I know that learning has really occurred. A love of poetry has truly been instilled in her being and I, again, thank her teachers for helping to facilitate this love.  Please take a moment to watch this video of Emmy as she reads her poems at Inn Street Montessori's Lower Elementary Poetry Tea.

 

Ever since her work with poetry at school, Emmy has become interested in books that hold collections of poems.  We have quite a collection of poetry books including Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Shel Silverstein and Mattie Stepanek.  Stepanek has been described as a peacemaker, a philosopher and a prophet.  He suffered from a rare form of muscular dystrophy and died in 2004 at the age of thirteen. His poems are full of messages of peace and love.  Stepanek called his poems heartsongs.  

"A heartsong doesn't have to be a song in your heart, " he said.  "It doesn't have to be 

talking about love and peace.  It can just be your message.  It can be your feeling.  

Some people might even call it a conscience."  

At a very early age, Stepanek developed his personal life philosophy summed up in the following quote,                                              "Remember to play after every storm."  

You can read more about Mattie Stepanek and his books of poetry and essays titled, Heartsongs, (all NY Times bestsellers) on his website.  

With Emmy's love of the outdoors,  I searched for poetry books that focused on nature. These two books stood out as winners.

The first one is A Stick is an Excellent Thing (poems celebrating outdoor play) by Marilyn Singer with illustrations by LeUyen Pham.  

This book of poetry celebrates universal types of play that are timeless and engaging no matter what generation is participating.  From organized games like jumping rope, hop scotch and hide-and-seek to imaginative games like making mud soup and turning sticks into magic wands, the poems held within these pages invite children to join in the fun.

A Stick is an Excellent Thing

A stick is an excellent thing,

If you find the perfect one.

It's a scepter for a king,

A stick is an excellent thing.

It's a magic wand, It's yours to fling,

To strum a fence, to draw the sun,

A stick is an excellent thing,

If you find the right one.  

(Click HERE for our post about the book Not a Stick)

The second one is Outside Your Window (a first book of nature) by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Mark Hearld.  Hearld's juicy layered collages bring the poems to life.  Davies, a zoologist and best known for writing books about science, finds a way to bring amazing facts and fun things to do in her poetry writing. The book cycles through the seasons with a good number of poems focused on each one.  I like that the poems do not always follow a rhyming format, but instead bring about vivid images through colorful language.  

Honey

Buzzzzzzz zzzzzzzz

It's coming from the beehive

It sounds like sweetness

And the sleepy, sleepy summer

Hmmmm mmm

The bees bring nectar from the flowers

For miles around and in the hive,

They make it into honey.

Buzzzzzzz zzzzzzzz

Hmmmmm mmm

The sound of sweetness and the smell of flowers

Of sunny, sleepy summer -

The sound of honey.

Emmy and I hope that we have inspired you to enjoy the poetry of nature!  I leave you with a quote by one of my favorite philosophers and the person that my Emmy is named after, Ralph Waldo Emerson.    

"Nature always wears the colors of the spirit." 

10 Little Rubber Ducks

Dear Readers,

Life has gotten in the way of this blog lately. It's been four months since I posted last. I've never been away from this blog for that long! Emmy and I have continued to read wonderful books and I have a nice pile of books on my desk which I've been meaning to write about and share. SIGH! I have added two jobs (playgroup instructor and curriculum writer at Play Makers Family Enrichment Center and substitute teacher/floater at my daughter's school) to my life which has taken away a lot of my time to blog.

I hope to carve out some time for blogging each week. I really enjoy sharing the books we read and writing about them. Emmy and I have gone to three book signings in the past couple of months and we are both excited to share these experiences with you.

Forgive me for my absence from the blogging world! I hope you will continue to read Emmy's Book of the Day and share it with your friends!

All my best,

Amy

Now onto the post:

Emmy and I recently received a wonderful gift from my best friend and Emmy's "fairy" godmother. The gift was presented in a book bag from Strand Book Store in New York City where my friend recently visited at my suggestion. Emmy and I were both delighted at what we found inside the book bag!

For Emmy, the book 10 Little Rubber Ducks

written and illustrated by Eric Carle.

Emmy's favorite illustration is of the rubber duck with the whale.

Eric Carle continues to amaze us with his unique illustrations!

Thanks to this book's focus on ordinal numbers,

Emmy can be found lining things up and counting them

first, second, third, fourth, etc.

For me, the book Moby-Duck written by Donovan Hohn.

Hohn tells the true story of what happened to a large number of rubber ducks when they mysteriously start showing up on several beaches. Eric Carle's book is based on this incident.

Emmy loves "reading" my grown up books.

She enjoys marking her place with a bookmark.

Here she is reading Moby Duck.

For more about the book Moby Duck, check out this book trailer:

And for both of us...rubber ducks!

This was just the perfect gift for the two of us! Themed gifts are such a wonderful idea. It's a way to showcase your own personality and that of the intended recipient or in our case recipients.

Here are a few of our gift ideas using a book theme:

The Art Series Books along with colored pencils and a sketch pad all tucked inside a zippered portfolio type of bag (add a beautiful coffee table book by a favorite artist for the adult).

Tuck the book Bridget's Beret into a basket with a beret, sidewalk chalk or watercolor paints and paper (add a beret for the grown up and a travel book about France or a loaf of french bread and a bottle of Beaujolais).

Ballerina Books tucked inside a cloth bag with ballet slippers and a tutu (for the adult, add a framed print of one of Degas' works such as Dancer With a Bouquet of Flowers and a CD of music from a favorite ballet such as Swan Lake).

Beach Books tucked inside a pail with a shovel and a beach towel - if it's too chilly to visit the beach, add a small bag of sand and some seashells for some fun indoor play (add a pair of silver starfish earrings or a pretty seashell necklace for the adult).

Tuck a few Night-Night Books inside a pillowcase with a stuffed animal and a nightlight (for the grown up, lavender hand/foot lotion with a pair of comfy socks).

Put this Gardening Book or one of these Gardening Books in a gardening tool bag with kid sized gardening gloves and tools as well as a couple packets of seeds or bulbs - if the weather is not suitable for gardening, pack the book into a pot with soil and seeds for planting indoors (add a potted plant or a few grown up tools as well as a flower or vegetable planting guide).

For someone who lives far away, place this book about sending a letter into a large mailing envelope with paper, envelopes, stamps and colored pens (include a box of blank cards and a nice pen for the adult).

I hope these ideas spark some wonderful book themed gifts for the upcoming holidays!

Derrick Brown

Derrick Brown + Poetry = Performer Extraordinaire!

Recently, Emmy and I had the wonderful opportunity to read and review two new books by
an amazing independent publishing company named Write Fuzzy. I just love their tagline, "The books we wish we had when we were kids." Write Fuzzy is part of Writebloody Publishing - an independent literary press (think mission-driven not market-driven) whose mission is to bring the spoken word to the masses.

Derrick Brown, a writer of poetry and performer of his original works, is also the man behind this mission. "Brown was seeing young, smart, page savvy poets, prose writers and poetry performers sell out shows, with only self-published, junky looking books available for sale." By bringing works by these important and often neglected authors/performers to the widest possible audience, Brown and his hard working staff of artists, authors, poets and performers hope that going to a reading will be as common as going to the movies or to see a band. In Brown's own words, "...he is dedicated to bringing American poetry into rock and roll status." I think Writebloody is on the right track and am very excited to watch as this movement soars across the United States and continues throughout the world.

Derrick Brown has recently ventured into writing books for children, which Emmy and I discovered when Write Fuzzy sent two books in a big envelope addressed to her! Emmy was over the moon when she received the package. Getting mail is one of her favorite things. I explained to Emmy that we were to read the books and give our opinions of them on our blog. Emmy took this job very seriously. She immediately sat down and looked through both books carefully. She then asked me to read them aloud. I usually like to read new books first before reading them to Emmy, but with her excitement building who could wait!

The first book we read was Valentine the Porcupine Dances Funny written by Derrick Brown and illustrated by Jenny Lewis. Emmy LOVES to dance so she LOVED this book. She thought Valentine looked so cute in her red polka dot shoes and matching bow in her prickly hair. She felt empathy for Valentine as she struggled to find a friend that would dance with her. Many of the other animals that Valentine meets thinks she is strange and are not always nice to her. "Valentine is just plain silly. Valentine is kooky. Valentine is willy-nilly when she shakes her booty!"

However, with her mom's loving support, "Strange is cool, Valentine, I hope you never change?" Valentine sets off to find to find someone who would dance with her and share their heart with her. Who she finds makes Emmy laugh and laugh - it's someone else with prickles and pokers just like her - a blowfish! "I knew that if I waited, I would find a special friend to laugh between the butter flowers and dance along the wind."

Take a look at...The Art of Valentine the Porcupine Dances Funny - Artist: Jenny Lewis


The second book we read was I Looooove You, Whale! written by Derrick Brown with illustrations by Amanda Atkins. This one definitely needed to be read first to understand the story and be able to read it aloud with the appropriate voice. Emmy and I both love Beluga Whales, which is the type of whale that the boy, Steven, befriends in this story. When we finished reading, we began singing Baby Beluga, a song by Raffi, that we have sung together since Emmy was a baby. Emmy thought it was amazing how Steven became friends with a whale and would love for that to happen to her one day. In fact she said, "Wouldn't it be so cool to swim with a whale in the deep blue sea."

I liked how the book addressed the important issue of keeping the ocean and beaches clean. Emmy and I often talk about how it is our job to take care of our planet, the creatures and plants that live here, and to also take care of each other. Whenever we are at the beach, Emmy notices and picks up any trash that she sees. It is her mission (and mine, too) to keep our beaches clean!

Thanks to Derrick Brown's inspiration, Emmy has put together her own short spoken word performance titled "The Woods."


My dad, Emmy's Papa, was self-employed and owned his own painting and wallpaper hanging business (as in exteriors and interiors of houses) for many, many years. From him I learned how important it was to support local, independent businesses and I express this to Emmy whenever we visit our local shops and farms. Emmy and I hope you feel the same way and will support independent authors, artists and presses. Be sure to check out Write Fuzzy, Writebloody Publishing and The Poetry of Derrick Brown.

In the Garden: Who's Been Here?

Spring has arrived! Every shop in our little town has flower boxes full of the most colorful and fragrant flowers. Emmy and I stop and smell the flowers every day on our way to and from school. We also marvel at the blossoms on the trees. So beautiful!

When we went to the library, we asked the librarian to suggest a book for Spring and she recommended Lindsay Barrett George's In the Garden: Who's Been Here? Perfect! Two children, Christina and Jeremy, and their dog, Sonny, are sent to pick vegetables in the garden where they discover quite a few other creatures who have already been to the garden that day.

George's illustrations are so realistic that you really feel a part of the story. Emmy's favorite page is the one with the chipmunk nibbling the seeds in the sunflower.

"Christina looks down into a large sunflower. Something's
been eating the seeds in the middle of this sunflower.
I wonder... Who's been here? A chipmunk."

Emmy loves giving a guess after the repetitive phrase I wonder...Who's been here? and is delighted to turn the page and discover the two page spread showing a close up of the creature and the plant.

This is George's fifth book in the Who's Been Here? series. The first three starred George's own children Campbell (Cammy) and William and are each set in nature surrounding their home (woods, snow, pond) giving the reader a wonderful sense of the great outdoors. The fourth in the series has a slightly different format as it follows a teacher who is traveling the world and reporting back to her students through letters, sketches and maps. Each book in the series has a reference page at the end highlighting the animals giving the reader even more information.

If your child loves nature, then these books would be perfect.

In the Woods: Who's Been Here?










In the Snow: Who's Been Here?

Around the Pond: Who's Been Here?

Around the World: Who's Been Here?

Here are a few songs about gardening that Emmy and I have been enjoying!

Little Seed (tune: I'm a Little Teapot)
Here's a little seed in the dark, dark ground.
(crouch on the ground)
Out comes the warm sun, yellow and round.
(stand up and connect hands over head)
Down comes the rain, wet and slow.
(flutter fingers and slowly squat down)
Up comes the little seed, grow, grow, grow!
(jump up - jump, jump, jump)

Plant Your Seeds (tune: Row Your Boat)
Dig, dig, dig the earth
(make digging motion)
Then you plant your seeds
(pretend to drop seeds)
A gentle rain
(flutter fingers down)
And bright sunshine
(circle arms above head)
Will help your flowers grow.
(squat down and stand up raising arms above head)

Move Over, Rover!

Move Over, Rover! by Karen Beaumont, with illustrations by Jane Dyer, is Emmy's favorite book at the moment (mine, too). The sweet and gentle dog, Rover, is enjoying a bone in his doghouse when a thunderstorm comes along. Generously, Rover allows some other animal friends (cat, racoon, squirrel...) to seek shelter in his doghouse to keep warm and sleep through the storm.

"Squirrel's in the doghouse,
sleeping through the storm...
Blue Jay's looking all around
to find a place that's warm.
Squeeze in, squirrel!
Make room, Racoon!
Skit-scat, Cat!
Mover over, Rover!"

Karen Beaumont uses a familiar motif - generosity leads to overcrowding - that can be found in Jan Brett's The Mitten as well as the use of a cumulative story like Audrey Woods' The Napping House (click here to find more cumulative stories).



When Emmy and I read Move Over, Rover the first time we missed a very important part of the story shown in the illustrations - a skunk hiding behind the doghouse who slips inside when Rover goes out to check out the rain. The skunk is snuggled inside as all the other animals find warmth in Rover's house. Skunk's fur can be seen (if you look closely) in all the pictures and when the inhabitants in the overcrowded house suddenly catch a whiff of something they all skitter, scatter leaving skunk comfortably sleeping through the storm. The story ends with the sun shining and Rover once again chewing on his bone in his doghouse very happy that he's alone.

Hearing Emmy read this story is simply delightful. Her favorite line is "Skit-scat, Cat!" She always wants me to read the back jacket flap where it is shared that Move Over, Rover was inspired by Karen's childhood in Oregon when one rainy night her dog let a goat into the house and she found them both curled up on her parents' bed!!! Emmy likes to imagine how many animals could fit inside her house which makes me think that I should share Margot Zemach's book It Could Always Be Worse which tells of a family complaining about their crowded and noisy house and the interesting advice that a wise Rabbi gives to them.

Emmy and I have been enjoying this poem by Ken Nesbitt about a "watch dog."

My Dog is Not Like Other Dogs

My dog is not like other dogs.
He doesn't care to walk,
He doesn't bark, he doesn't howl.
He goes "Tick, tock. Tick, tock."

He beeps each day at half-past nine.
At noon he starts to chime,
I have a strong suspicion
that my dog can tell the time.

Another dog might run and play,
or smother me with licking,
but my dog just annoys me
with his beeping and his ticking.

Should you decide to buy a dog,
consider my remarks:
When looking for a "watch dog,"
get yourself the kind that barks.

Hunwick's Egg

Have you ever met a Bilby? Emmy and I haven't, but we are hoping to one day. Emmy is so full of anticipation for the Easter Bunny's arrival tomorrow morning, but after reading the book, Hunwick's Egg, she is wondering about a visit from an Easter Bilby. The Easter Bilby is the Australian alternative to the Easter Bunny. Bilbies (a type of bandicoot) are marsupials. They are about the size of a rabbit and like rabbits have large ears. Bilbies are nocturnal, omnivore animals living in the arid areas of central Australia. They are endangered due to habitat destruction.

Mem Fox and Pamela Lofts have created a story of hope celebrating the warmth and power of an unexpected friendship. When after a storm, Hunwick discovers an egg he is determined to take care of it until it hatches. Hunwick's neighbors (emu, cockatoo, echidna) are concerned when the egg doesn't seem to be hatching, but Hunwick realizes that his egg is actually a perfectly shaped stone and continues to "love it with all his heart." The illustrations add an interesting element to the text and showcases the flora and fauna of the Australian landscape.

Making connections while reading is an important part of the process and Emmy is on her way. She was able to use prior knowledge to make a connection from this book to one we had previously read (text to text connection...there is also text to self and text to world connections). After reading Hunwick's Egg with her, Emmy immediately compared it to The Odd Egg. She realized that the duck and the bilby both needed a friend and wanted to take care of something special. Even though Hunwick's egg did not turn out to be an egg, Emmy understood the stone's special meaning to Hunwick as she has a rather large collection of rocks that each mean something special to her.

Click here to read an interview with Mem Fox about this amazing story.

This is Mem Fox's second collaboration with illustrator Pamela Lofts - the first being the wildly successful classic Koula Lou.

"There was once a baby koula, so soft and round

that all who saw her loved her. Her name was Koula Lou.
The emu loved her. The platypus loved her.
And even tough little Koala Klaws next door loved her.
But it was her mother who loved her most of all..."

Whether you enjoy a chocolate bunny or a chocolate bilby
(profits help protect these animals from extinction),
Emmy and I wish you a very happy Easter!

Thank You Bear

Both Emmy and I are excited to share the book, Thank You Bear, with you! It is written and illustrated by Greg Foley. We feel a kinship with Mr. Foley because he grew up in Austin, Texas.

Thank You Bear is the gentle story of a bear who finds a treasure that he thinks will be perfect for his friend Mouse. It goes along with the old saying "One man's trash is another man's treasure." as Bear finds great value in the object, but begins to feel differently as he shows it to some of his other animal friends.

"On his way to find Mouse,
he showed it to the monkey.
Monkey said, "That's not so great."
He showed it to the owl.
Owl said, "I've seen those before."

Foley's illustrations are so soft and serene. They are a pleasure to look at. Emmy noticed right away, through Bear's face and posture, that he was becoming discouraged by his friend's words. We think all children can relate to Bear as he sits wondering if his treasure is so great after all. Our lives can be full of discouraging words, but as often happens, someone comes along to give us the encouragement that we need as Mouse did for Bear.

"Then Mouse crawled inside the empty box and said,
"It's the greatest thing ever!"

Foley makes the reader wonder about the contents of the box, but it is on this page that it is discovered that the treasure is the box itself and is the perfect snugly place for Mouse.

After reading this book many times, Emmy found her little mouse, her special bear and a tissue box and started to act out the story. I made copies of the other animals in the story to add to her retelling. Here are the props:And here is Emmy acting out the story Thank You Bear:



Foley has written two more books about Bear that Emmy and I are excited to read. Both sound perfect for Springtime!

Don't Worry Bear

Good Luck Bear

The Odd Egg

Could it be that Spring is here? With the warmer weather over the weekend, it seems like it may really have arrived! Emmy enjoyed wearing a sweater rather than a bulky coat and getting her scooter out and riding around town. We've spotted some buds on a few trees and some sprouts from the bulbs we planted last Autumn!

With Spring, Emmy is most excited about seeing baby animals. She listens carefully for the chirp-chirp of birds and wonders if there is a nest with babies nearby.

On our last trip to the library, we looked for a book about baby birds and came across the book The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett. Quite amusing! The story stars Duck - the only bird who hasn't laid an egg. Not uncommon considering he is a male duck! But Duck finds an egg with spots the same color as the feathers on his head. "He thought it was the most beautiful egg in the whole wide world" and decides to take care of it himself. The other birds were not impressed by Duck's egg. They thought it was quite odd. As the eggs begin to hatch, the birds cuddle their new babies while Duck passes the time waiting for his egg to hatch by knitting a scarf. Everyone is in for a BIG surprise when Duck's egg finally hatches.

Emily Gravett's simple text is paired with delightful pencil and watercolor drawings. With each "Creak Crack," the eggs hatch in ascending order on specially cut flaplike pages showing each baby greeting its mother. The suspense builds for Duck's egg to hatch until "SNAP!" Emmy's favorite page is on the inside of the back cover where the inhabitant of the egg marches off with it's "Mama" wearing the knitted scarf as well as booties that look like webbed feet!

Emmy and I are now fans of Emily Gravett!!!! She has written and illustrated some brilliant books. Here's a few of our favorites: